Hi, Kari,
Yes, I definitely like "High Tide..." I think "tenacious" is a great
adjective ..like the numerous sub-plots in Nor the Moon By Night it
just keeps on going... although again it was one of the many
interesting but ultimately misfires of his movie career...
An odd fish of a movie..if it had been a full blooded melodrama OR a
serious drama exploring the lonely, insular and financially fragile
lives of Newfoundland's fishing families, Or even if it had been more
a docu-drama style movie using real locations it might have worked but
it wasn't and it didn't. The script though is the culprit and would
certainly have benefited from more focus to the plot, editing a few
threads out of the story, culling a few characters and/or stronger
leads esp Betta St John (apparently PMG had been the original choice
for the Michael Craig character.)
As usual he was great, in my soupy copy he looked terrific. He's
hardly on screen really, but is the most interesting actor playing, or
at least creating the most interesting character. If the script HAD
BEEN a bit sharper it would have been clearer that his was a pivital
role but .......
It could have been a very OTT performance but his wild young man is
restrained by a very mature performance which quietened down the more
melodramatic elements of his part of the story. He's wild and rather
amoral but no out and out rotter here, you felt a real sympathy for
what was a complex guy tying up at the wrong jetty, suffering
unrequited love for the girl from the nicer quay (even though she was
a very wet fish indeed.)
I especially liked the way he "underplayed" the attempted "date rape"
scene. The whole scene was pretty strong for its time. As an actor not
known for being comfortable with love scenes his performance was note
perfect and almost TOO comfortable, very seductive indeed... it
probably helped that he had some excellent and realistic dialogue to
deliver. It was all done very subtlly and played totally convincingly
as he coaxed and almost BUT not quite landed his uneasy and naive
prey. He didn't play him as a stock "bad boy" but picked up on every
clue the script gave him to display his character as rounded but
flawed so you believed completely her initial attraction for him.
While you have to give a high 5 to the director here, the whole film
could have done with a tighter grip. I can't help feeling that the
original director (Peter Graham Scott - I think it was) shooting on
location with PMG in the lead might have been inspired to something
better. Having said all this I'd love to see a CRISP dvd of this one.
As to "The Hard Way", I am no fan....yes, he's great but he always is.
Yes, there's, some solid acting, good filming in genuine Irish
locations etc, but was that supposed to be Paris and a real french
bar????? It's a Very, Very Overworked plot...a hired killer wants to
hang up his gun but his old associates won't let him...didn't mind
that or that there is hardly any dialogue... PMG and Lee Van Cleef are
solid enough actors NOT to need much and probably work better with
little rather than something poorly written but there was nothing NEW
here.
A little Eno goes a long way and I didn't find the music so much
"haunting" as simply maudlin, probably because there was so much of
it. For me, what sank this film was the WIFE. I loathed Edna O'Brian's
stilted narration and performance, unfortunately it's throughout the
film and annoyed the heck out of me...I'm sure she got a "nod"
somewhere for a Golden Turkey for worse performance by a
novelist...Usually in any film with McGoohan in it, it's him that you
remember, but the horror of her performance burnt right through my
brain. The last scene when she talks of Conner as being "some kind of
man.." is I assume, to be a nod at Dietrich talking about Orson Welles
in "Badge of Evil" ...well she's no Marlene. I found The Hard Way just
hard going and unrewarding.
I hate myself for unloading on any PMG movie...there are so few really
it just seems churlish....
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